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Secretary of Ed. Defending Money for Teachers

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By David Rogers/Politico

Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to the defense Wednesday of emergency funding to forestall public teacher layoffs, saying President Barack Obama is “unequivocal” in his support of the initiative and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag “works for the president.”

“I speak for the administration and I speak for the president on this,” Duncan said at a press conference with supporters of the $23 billion in new funding. “The president is unequivocal. He’s 100% behind this. We have talked repeatedly about it… So any sense that the White House is not behind this is an absolute myth.”

Nonetheless, the White House has frustrated Democrats by never submitting a formal presidential request for the funds, making it harder for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) to include the money in a pending $58.8 billion supplemental spending bill. And Orszag’s Office of Management and Budget was conspicuously silent on the issue in its endorsement Monday of the Senate measure, which include must-pass funds for the war in Afghanistan and disasters in the U.S.
 



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